Nonprofit Spotlight: Meeting Thomas as Students Provide Healthcare to People in Need

Thomas Stokes with his bicycle outside the EVMS Street Health clinic at Freemason Baptist Church on Jan. 25, 2020.

Thomas Stokes was a friendly, open guy with a warm smile. When I attended an EVMS Street Health clinic earlier this year to gather material for a story for the school’s magazine, he didn’t hesitate to talk with this stranger asking lots of personal questions. In fact, he wanted to share his story in the hopes of helping others.

Thomas lacked health insurance, was on disability and had been homeless for three years. He had pedaled his bicycle to the clinic “to get everything checked out.”

He was grateful for the med students providing free healthcare to people in need through Street Health, part of EVMS’s Community Engaged Learning program. Living on the streets, he said, can lead to despair, depression and sickness.

Thomas features prominently in the cover story I had the opportunity to write. You can read the article in EVMS’s digital magazine, which came out recently. I’d urge you to spend less than four minutes watching the nicely done video that EVMS created to go with the story. You’ll get to hear from Thomas himself as well as the impressive med students who run the program.

Sadly, Thomas died shortly before the issue’s publication. He was 62. Rest In peace, Thomas. I’m grateful to have met you.

If you’d like to support Community Engaged Learning initiatives like Street Health, you can make a gift on EVMS’s website.